Pittsburgh jury finds synagogue attacker eligible for death penalty

PHOTO CAPTION: Police officers guard the Tree of Life synagogue following Saturday's shooting at the synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S., October 28, 2018. REUTERS/Aaron Josefczyk

By Brendan O'Brien

(Reuters) -A federal jury on Thursday decided that Robert Bowers was eligible for the death penalty for killing 11 worshippers at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue in 2018, the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history, local media reported.

Last month, the jury found Bowers, 50, guilty of dozens of federal hate crimes in the trial at the U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh in western Pennsylvania. Federal prosecutors had charged Bowers with 63 counts, including 11 counts of obstruction of free exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death.

In the first phase of the sentencing portion of the trial, the jury briefly deliberated on Wednesday afternoon and then again for about two hours on Thursday morning before reaching their decision that Bowers was eligible for the death penalty, KDKA TV, a local CBS affiliate in Pittsburgh, reported.

In the final phase of the sentencing portion of the trial, both prosecutors and defense attorneys will have the chance to make arguments on whether Bowers deserves the death penalty. Victims and families of those killed in the shooting will also have the opportunity to speak to the court. The jury will then deliberate Bowers' fate.

In federal capital cases, a unanimous vote by jurors is required in order to sentence a defendant to death, and the judge is obligated to abide by the jury's decision. If jurors are unable to reach a unanimous decision, the offender is instead sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release.

On June 16, the jury found him guilty on all counts, after defense lawyers accepted that he planned and carried out the attack. Jurors heard testimony from some of the survivors of the attack and evidence of Bowers' antisemitism, including multiple posts attacking Jews made on a far-right website in the months leading up to the attack.

Defense lawyers argued that Bowers suffers from major mental illness, including schizophrenia, and so lacked the necessary level of intent.

In their arguments in support of making Bowers eligible for the death penalty, prosecutors said that he had the necessary intent and premeditation to qualify for the sentence. They presented witnesses and evidence to show he carefully planned the attack and deliberately targeted vulnerable elderly worshipers.

(Reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York; additional reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Chicago; editing by Tim Ahmann and Bill Berkrot)